Free Republic

The federal subsidy known as the "Obamaphone" or "Obamanet" program could be losing nearly $500 million to fraud annually, according to a top Republican on the Federal Communications Commission. Commissioner Ajit Pai made the accusation Wednesday in letter to the Universal Service Administrative Company, referring to the FCC's Universal Service Fund, which provides a monthly $9.95 subsidy for telecom service to low-income consumers. The subsidy is limited to one per "independent economic household," or IEH, but telecom companies have the ability to override that restriction if applicants check a box stating they represent a separate household, even if they have...

Any home where at least one person receives food stamps will be eligible for the new program, called Access from AT&T. The offering is part of an agreement AT&T (T, Tech30) made with the FCC as part of last year's DirectTV merger and will be available until 2020. The company is the latest to offer discounted internet to low-income households in the United States, joining Comcast (CCV), Google Fiber, and some local government and nonprofit. These programs help close the so-called "digital divide" for families who would otherwise be forced to rely on school connections or cell phones. A lack...

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The head of the U.S. Federal Communications Commission circulated Tuesday a final proposal seeking approval for a $9.25 monthly subsidy for low-income Americans to get broadband Internet access. Since last year, the FCC has been considering revamping the $1.5 billion annual program, called Lifeline, which has helped lower income Americans get access to telecommunications technologies since 1985. FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler has said he wants to give those receiving the subsidy a choice of using it for phone services, high-speed Internet, or both. But households will get only a single $9.25 a month subsidy that would apply...

WASHINGTON — President Obama, backing a plan to connect low-income families to more affordable broadband services, on Wednesday set a goal to get 20 million people subscribed to high-speed Internet by 2020. In a Facebook post, Mr. Obama said a lack of broadband at home took a particularly harsh toll on students caught in a “homework gap,” unable to complete school assignments because the work requires access to the web. “All of America’s students should be able to get online, no matter where they live or how much their parents make,” Mr. Obama wrote. “We’re calling this effort ConnectAll —...

On July 15 in Durant, Oklahoma, President Obama announced ConnectHome, describing it as: … a new initiative with communities, the private sector, and federal government to expand high speed broadband to more families across the country. ConnectHome is aimed at low-income areas with little broadband uptake, expanding several earlier federal programs. The headlines are about connecting the poor to the modern convenience of the internet, but they don’t mention who’s paying for it. As with most federal programs, you are. Is ConnectHome worth the costs, and what are they? So far, the ConnectHome website is thin on details. (It’s even...

Today the FCC voted in favor of updating its Lifeline program to include broadband. This would mean that households surviving on low incomes would be able to receive help paying for a broadband connection. It might not be as important as electricity or water, but having a broadband connection is seen as being all but essential these days. From helping with education and job hunting, to allowing for home working, the ability to get online is seen as so vital by some that there have been calls for it to be classed as a utility. The Lifeline program has been...

The interwebs are now, officially, considered a “public utility” according to the Federal Communication Commission. After two weeks, the FCC has finally released its 400 page plan to regulate the internet. (I’d say something snarky about this, but I honestly don’t know whether or not that’s still allowed… And, as a follow up: Do you really think it takes 400 pages to ensure an “open and free” internet?) Naturally, the next step would be for government to begin subsidizing internet service to potential Democrat voters low income citizens. According to the National Journal:The Federal Communications Commission plans to soon begin working...

The Federal Communications Commission plans to soon begin working on a proposal to subsidize Internet service for low-income consumers by expanding its Lifeline program, which is mocked by conservatives as the "Obamaphone" program. All three Democrats on the five-member commission have publicly said they want to use federal money to help ensure that all Americans can afford to get online. Lifeline—which despite the Obamaphone nickname was created during the Reagan administration—currently subsidizes only phone service.

It’s not the neutering of the left ObamaNet’s going after but the neutering of all conservative voices, big and small. ‘Net Neutrality’ did not come of a sudden on February 26, 2015. Net Neutrality more honestly called ‘the Neutering of the Net’ was already in place a long time ago. Feb. 26 only made it official and is only the date the Obama regime used to demoralize what they see as the hapless masses under their imperial control. Government business conducted in emails from private home accounts rather than from government office accounts was happening long before Hillary Clinton was...

Buyer’s remorse is already setting in for Google and other ‘net neutrality’ proponents. When Google’s Eric Schmidt called White House officials a few weeks ago to oppose President Obama ’s demand that the Internet be regulated as a utility, they told him to buzz off. The chairman of the company that led lobbying for “net neutrality” learned the Obama plan made in its name instead micromanages the Internet. Mr. Schmidt is not the only liberal mugged by the reality of Obamanet... as details leak out, liberals have joined the opposition to ending the Internet as we know it. The Progressive...

MEET THE BRAINS BEHIND OBAMA'S PLAN TO REGULATE THE INTERNET In the Wall Street Journal's stunning expose of how political operatives at the White House overruled the FCC's own experts to pave the way for this week's upcoming vote to regulate the Internet, we learned that the key link between a small group of liberal tech executives and President Obama was David Karp, the president of Tumblr. Specifically, the Journal reported:

A Democrat on the Federal Communications Commission wants to see changes that could narrow the scope of new net neutrality rules set for a vote on Thursday. Mignon Clyburn, one of three Democrats on the FCC, has asked Chairman Tom Wheeler to roll back some of his provisions before the full commission votes on them, FCC officials said. The request — which Wheeler has yet to respond to — puts the chairman in the awkward position of having to either roll back his proposals, or defend the tough rules and convince Clyburn to back down. It’s an ironic spot for...

FCC to Vote on Net Neutrality Rules on Thursday Written by Bob Adelmann On Thursday consumers will finally be able to see and read the FCC’s (Federal Communications Commission) planned new rules to regulate the Internet. Deliberately hidden from public view, the 332-page document is expected to be passed by the FTC, as demanded by President Obama last November when he told FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler to adopt the “strongest possible rules” in regulating the Internet. Leaks from the document were inevitable, and critics have slowly pieced together the latest attack on Internet freedom. Five times legislation has been offered...

WASHINGTON — Last April, a dozen New York-based Internet companies gathered in the Flatiron Building boardroom of the social media website Tumblr to hear dire warnings that broadband providers were about to get the right to charge for the fastest speeds on the web. The implication: If they didn’t pay up, they would be stuck in the slow lane. What followed has been the longest, most sustained campaign of Internet activism in history, one that the little guys appear to have won. On Thursday, the Federal Communications Commission is expected to vote to regulate the Internet as a public good....

While on one hand the Obama Administration has announced a plan to hand over supervision of Internet domains to the international community, they are actively looking at plans to control how we purchase and access the internet. In conjunction with it's grand launch, Vox Editor In Chief Ezra Klein debuted an exclusive interview with former Special Assistant to President Obama on Science, Technology and Innovative Policy (what a title) Susan Crawford to stress why "the internet is too important to be left to the private market." The interview came off with as much as much spontaneity as a paid commercial...

Sen. Ted Cruz came out swinging after President Barack Obama wholeheartedly endorsed new internet regulations Monday morning. Cruz, who is mulling a run for president in 2016, compared the entire concept of "net neutrality" — which posits internet companies should not be allowed to speed or slow down their services for certain users — to Obama's much-maligned healthcare reform. '"Net Neutrality' is Obamacare for the Internet; the Internet should not operate at the speed of government," Cruz wrote on Twitter. Cruz's spokeswoman, Amanda Carpenter, added that net neutrality would place the government "in charge of determining pricing, terms of service,...

ObamaNet - Government issued Internet ID card required for all Americans The government will be able to track every web site you visit, every keystroke you send, every purchase you make, every blog comment, and every Facebook and Twitter post. The Washington Times is warning that the White House cybersecurity adviser and Commerce Secretary Gary Locke are drawing up "ObamaNet," President Obama's mandate for what amounts to a national ID card for the Internet. President Obama wants to establish passwords for every citizen to centralize your personal information. Instead of logging onto Facebook or one's bank using separate passwords established...